Trailer Parks?

[Hawkcigar]

It looks like there are people in the vintage trailer business also. Take a look at this one and click on the restorations link.
Birchwood Beuties

I think that trailer/mobile home parks can be whatever the homeowners decide they will be. When my wife and I first got married (we were very young) we bought a small mobile home. That's where we first learned to cook, do yard work, bought our first piece of antique furniture, and generally how to grow together. Neither of us wanted to pay rent and when the day came to move to a site-built house the sale of the mobile home helped us with down payment money. We both shed a few tears as we drove away for the final time.

 

[Dan G]

I was raised in a trailer park. I guess you'd call it a mobile home. My parents kept it super clean and the yard done up nice, so my brother and I never thought anything of it, but it was painful for them though. My father worked for ten dollars an hour until I was thirteen, when he went to work for thirteen. My brother and I were always well off, we always had new school clothes and shoes. We never knew any different, but my folks thought we were missing out somehow for being raised in that environment.[huh] My pa's a great guy.

 

[BegintheBeguine]

That is sweet

His son's pretty neat, too.

 

[koopkooper]

I love the Airstream Vans. In fact they have released some very retro looking ones recently. Would love to hitch that to my ol Chrysler and take her traveling.

 

[Dan G]

I don't know that I'd say that, he's alright though.

 

[Kassia]

There was a popular book on the subject, that was turned into a movie.

http://www.trailerite.com/clintontwiss.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Long,_Long_Trailer

Oh my god that is a funny movie!!!!

 

[Kassia]

I believe that trailer parks were acceptable in the 40's and 50's. However, I also believe that trailers were frequently used for homes while travelling by people that already own homes, much like many people with RV's today.

So in that sense, having a trailer would be a perk.

Also, homes were a lot more affordable in the 50's:

1950
House: $14,500
Income: $3,216

Now:
House: $264,000 (but much, much more in many areas)
Income: $44,000

Where can you buy a house for $264,000 today? They are more like $500 to 750K in and around Vancouver BC Canada....

 

[scotrace]

Saw a fixer-upper today for $59K.

 

[MPicciotto]

Some thoughts from my experiences:

An RV, Travel Trailer, camping trailer etc is just that: A recreational vehicle, meant to be pulled by a truck or self propelled

A "Mobile Home" ranges in size from 1-3 sections or "trailers" is mounted to a steel frame and can be readied to be moved to a new site in less then a day.

A "Manufactured Home" is a trendy marketing term for a "Mobile Home" as most aren't moved more then once anymore as other posters have stated.

A "Modular Home" although sharing some of the construction principles as a "Mobile Home" is NOT meant to be trucked once installed. These do NOT have a steel frame and I personally have seen a SIXTEEN section modular home that was installed over a full basement with a two car garage.

Now in Anne Arundel County Maryland home of the capital of Maryland (Annapolis) are a hand full of trailer parks. Some are simple modest communities, low key with a 1/2 dozen to a dozen mobile homes with residents not much different then in the suburban neighborhoods surrounding them, just a little lower income. But two in particular stand out for this discussion. One is Lyons Creek;

Originally Lyons Creek was the cats meow of trailer parks. This park is in what was once a rural area about a 1/2 hour from Washington DC. At one time its tenets were of the upper income for the area, people who worked in DC in construction or other trades and generally these people made more then the surrounding tobacco farmers. Over time Lyons Creek has turned into the prototype for Trailer Trash jokes, commentary etc. For my job with the gas company I had to repossess propane tanks or otherwise shut off the gas, collect on past due accounts etc dozens of times in a year! It really turned into the pits and was probably the premiere place in the county to buy used Camero or 70's and 80's Chevy pickup parts.

The other park of note I can't recall the name "(something) Estates" was absolutely gorgeous! Sidewalks, well kept lawns in the common areas, a fenced and locked storage area for boats, camping trailers (yes the trailer owners had camping trailers too ) etc. so that the boats and trailers would not clutter up the whole park. The diametric opposite of Lyons Creek. The attitudes of the people living there just made it a pleasurable place to visit.

Just my two cents from my travels as a Propane Tech and later as an HVAC tech
Matt

P.S. A standard furnace in a home cost a few thousand to replace and can take all day possibly two. Two of us can change a trailer furnace in an HOUR and the total cost be around a thousand. So there are some benefits to trailer living.

 

[Mr_Misanthropy]

The Good Life

Around here there are a lot of folks who live in RVs or mobile homes or trailers out in the country. Some of them are fitted with porches or sun rooms, sometimes decks. They can be on a little bit of land, or they can be the farmhouse for a few hundred acres of land, complete with barn, stables, etc. If I were to end up a lonely old hermit, I would want a vintage Airstream trailer on a patch of land big enough for a small garden, a horse, and my giant hidden underground laboratory full of 19th century medical and science equipment.

 

[dhermann1]

Not exactly the same but. . .

It's not exactly the same, but there's a long scene in "It Happened One Night", with Gable and Colbert, where they stay at a motel, or really a cabins motel. They have a shared bathroom at the center of the grounds, and everybody has to stand in line to wash. Much of the movie was filmed on location in Southern California, including this scene. It really gives an accurate picture of what trailer life must have been like in that era. ALL life was more rustic then. Living in a mansion in that era was more like roughing it than living in a mobile home is today.

 

[shortbow]

This has been an interesting read.

Until six years ago I lived in a nice old house, big yard, Merc in the driveway.

Disabling illness and divorce shoehorned me out of all that, and I now live in a thirty year old trailer with '92 pickup in the driveway. My ego has taken a hit, and there's certainly an element of Trailer Park Boys about it all but: I have a large yard where my dog can play. I have an incredible view of river and mountains with a farm in the foreground. I don't have to smell what other folks are having for dinner like you do in an apartment. Several thousand square miles of wilderness start at my back door. I have deer and heaps of birds in my yard. I can stick my head out the window of an evening and hear nothing but the wind in the trees.

PLUS, I have no mortgage, owe no money and have nobody to please but myself. Naturally, I'd rather have a beautiful hand-built log house or a classic old Craftsman bungalow. Last time my brother came for a visit, him, his wife and his kids looked gutted, I could see them thinking "Well, it's come to this...."

But, I have pretty much come to the conclusion that where you live is a lot more important than what you live in.

And most importantly, though I know little, I know this. Whether folks live in a mansion or a beat-up old trailer, no human being is, or should be judged as "trash."

Pax.

 

[MPicciotto]

During WW2 HUGE "trailer parks" were established around some aircraft plants to provide housing for the influx of employees. From the pictures these most commonly were of the "travel trailer" variety. As most of the workers didn't even own a car I doubt they moved very much.

Shortbow:

There is much to be admired in simplicity. I've know more happy people living within or well under their means in a small bungalow or trailer then those living in mansions. In my work I've been to 800 square foot homes, mobile homes and even travel trailers people are living in to 20,000 sq ft homes. You could almost make a chart showing parallel lines between square footage and stress.

Matt

P.S. One reason for not having bought a double wide that was on a foundation instead of the house I'm in now which is SMALLER is I can't stand the plastic like paneling that is used. But that's just personal preference.

 

[scotrace]

PLUS, I have no mortgage, owe no money and have nobody to please but myself.

This seems far more appealing than a McMansion.

 

[Flivver]

When I was a kid in the late 1950s, it was quite the thing to own a travel trailer and a suitable tow vehicle. The Holiday Rambler or Serro Scotty were very popular among those just starting out, but it was the Airstream that most trailer enthusiasts aspired to.

Some of my parent's friends had trailers at this time. I remember spending a very enjoyable week at Cape Cod in a Holiday Rambler in the summer of 1961 with my best friend and his parents. They put their trailer in a trailer park in Dennisport for the whole summer. The park was a very nice place, containing many pine trees. There seemed to be an even mix of permanent residents and folks staying for the season or just a week.

I remember everyone being very friendly and the park being very clean. I had such a good time that upon returning home I begged my parents to buy a trailer...to no avail. My parents were too "practical".

By the way, a bit of trivia about the movie "The Long Long Trailer". When Lucy and Desi start their trip, they are driving a 1953 Mercury convertible. But when they are in the Rockies, the Mercury suddenly morphs into a similar appearing 1953 Lincoln. Apparently the Mercury's relatively small flathead V8 wasn't up to the task of towing the huge "Blue Moon" in mountainous terrain. It took the newer, larger OHV V8 in the Lincoln to do the job!

 

[Foofoogal]

But, I have pretty much come to the conclusion that where you live is a lot more important than what you live in.

No kidding at all. I shall never, ever understand people that put huge houses on tiny, tiny lots. Makes more sense to buy a smaller house on some yard.
I was just having this conversation yesterday with my 10 yr. old grandaughter that a little house with lots of love is so much more important than a huge mansion with no love at all.
Trying to water down the mass advertising coming across to her to buy, buy and buy and owe, owe and owe which seems to be the drivel of this generation.
My dream is to live in about a 1000 sq. foot home on about 100 acres or maybe more. lol
I will have to have a bay window though with a window seat. For some reason this is necessary.

 

[retrogirl1941]

As of Firday August 1st I will be living in a trailer. I have been living in an apartment for going on two years now. We are moving up in the world with this move due to the interesting charecters in the complex. My husbands parents lived in one until my husband was a junior in highschool and then they could afford to buy a house. For them it was a time to save. For my husband and I it equals more room for our growing collections of vintage items! Now one thing I have done is purchased a set of pink flamingos to put out front in a tongue and cheek humor way.lol Just my two cents.

Samantha

 

[BegintheBeguine]

Oh, I know you will decorate it just as beautifully as your cute apartment.
There are some nice trailer parks around here and there are some even better ones in Florida.

 

[retrogirl1941]

Oh, I know you will decorate it just as beautifully as your cute apartment.
There are some nice trailer parks around here and there are some even better ones in Florida.

Thank you Ashley! The trailer is on a piece of property not in a trailer park. I have big plans for the new place!

Samantha

 

[Rufus]

Congratulations Retrogirl!

I'd love to see some photos when you are set up.

In the UK there's a SERIOUS shortage of property, but there's very few alternatives.

There is a traveller community in the UK, but it's not the same thing as the Trailer culture.

I think Modern reto living a la Trailer would be great!

rufus